Kelp for livestock

LaurieLovesLearning

I was doing some reading about how kelp was used in dairy cattle feed for jersey & guernsey.

That got my husband looking for more information. Right now, I have a pdf from him, but I need to find the source so that I can actually link to it for all of you. The article had more information than the pdf, so it is beneficial.

It covers (great) benefits for cattle, dairy, hogs, horses (with cautions), & poultry. It also covers dosages.

It could be well worth your while to try supplementing with it.

Has anyone here used kelp for your livestock? What did you observe?

JodieDownUnder

@LaurieLovesLearning i use to mix seaweed meal in my lick mix. 2 things I noticed, 1 my cows never retained an afterbirth when calving. 2 my goats never had goitre problems when kidding. I attributed those 2 things to seaweed meal.

Dave S., Zone 5B, 1300 ft, 11" rain

It very much matters what kind of kelp you buy and the formulation. For instance, regenerative farmer Joel Salatin swears by a mixture of Icelandic Kelp called Thorvin. He says if there is a feed with it mixed in they will run toward the trough. http://thorvin.com/products/livestock/ Last time I ordered Thorvin was 12 years ago, but at that time it was available from Azure Standard. They should also be able to order it at a feed store. If I was going to try a kelp supplement, I'd try Thorvin first, based on my positive experience last time and my immense respect for Salatin's experience and knowledge as a grass-fed beef producer. I seem to remember you could get a small bag (40-50 lbs) for around $60.

Azure Standard is a company in Oregon that sells mostly organic foods and other items, and ships them around most of the country, and once a month you go to a local drop location and pick up your order. Very recommended resource for homesteaders.

Prairie Homestead has a surprisingly good introductory explainer article about kelp supplements for livestock here, and it has further references at the end: https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/06/kelp-livestock.html

I hope that helps!

LaurieLovesLearning

I will check that out, @seasparrow32.

It turns out that this pdf was my husband's summary of what was on that site. I took a picture of it & will post it here:

Hassena

We used to order this through sunrise feeds in virginia. However it made our goat milk taste off. So we stopped offering it to our does in milk.

Cattle are totally different. You may not find the milk taste off.

Thanks for sharing this resources.